Incarceration
by Zephyros-Phoenix
Summary: ONESHOT - When paraplegic and former assassin Paula Crock is sentenced to 6 years in prison, it gives her time to think over where her way of life has gotten her and what is most important: her daughter Artemis.


**I've wanted to do this oneshot for a while now and had some time to whip it out. It's basically about Paula Crock, mother of Artemis and Jade (Cheshire) thinking over what she has become following her paralysis and getting her priorities straight while she's in prison for the next six years.**

**I do not own Young Justice.**

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><p><strong>Normal POV<strong>

Paula rolled her chair into her tiny, single cell as the guard shut the bars behind her. The cell was rotten and disgusting. Paint was chipping off the walls and the tiny bed looked like a cloud of dust would jump off if something were to land roughly on it. The mirror on the wall had a small crack on it, but the entire thing was still intact. The sink beneath it seemed to be in relatively good condition, but when Paula went over and turned the knob. Her initial thoughts were proven wrong as dirty, brown water dripped out with difficulty. She hoped that the toilet would at least be sanitary, but didn't expect much. The other inmates were loud and banging their cups on the bars. Even though she lived in the city, she wasn't used to so much noise.

For the next six years, this little cell would be Paula's home. She wouldn't be able to see her husband or children. What would happen while she was gone? Would her husband take good care of them? She looked at her legs and gripped the fabric of her prison uniform. She shook them and hit them, in hopes of feeling something, but nothing. She couldn't feel anything from her waist down. The doctors told her that the fall would leave her crippled for life; she would never recover. The only good thing that came out of it was that her lawyer was able to use her paralysis to have her sent to a regular prison rather than a maximum security prison that a criminal – former criminal – of her caliber would have been sent to.

She turned to the mirror, but wasn't able to see herself, though she would be able to if her legs still worked. She didn't need to look in the mirror to know what she looked like. She'd have bags under her eyes from the lack of sleep and her hair would be messy and unkempt. There wasn't exactly a lot of time, let alone a point, to keeping up her appearances.

Paula was disgusted with herself. Here she sat in a tiny prison cell, where she would remain for the next six years, to pay for her crimes. As if being stripped of her ability to walk wasn't punishment enough! She didn't come from a normal family. In fact, she didn't get many chances and had to resort to thievery to survive. Needless to say, she developed quite a knack for it. Eventually, she became work for hire as an assassin, honing her skills to take on higher risk jobs for more money.

That was how she met her husband, Lawrence Crock, a fellow assassin. They eventually married and had two children: Jade, after the stone, and Artemis, after the goddess of the moon and hunt. Jade looked most like her, while Artemis looked more like her father. It would be hard to realize they were sisters until they stood by their parents. Despite having a family, she and Lawrence continued their assassin work.

Unfortunately, something went wrong one night. Paula had a nasty fall and, out of love, told Lawrence to leave her behind and evade capture. They couldn't both be arrested or their children would likely be separated and lost in social services. She was caught and arrested, but the fall injured her spinal cord so severely that she would never walk again.

This was where her way of life had gotten her: stuck in a wheelchair in prison. Jade was thirteen and Artemis was nine, they'd be nineteen and fifteen by the time she was out, almost already all grown up. She would miss so many opportunities to moments to have with her daughters, more than she had already missed in their early childhood. She would miss talking to them about boys, watching them go on their first date, teaching them to drive…

To think that it took losing her legs to make her realize what was most important to her. It was hard for criminals to reform. Most would just break out and recommit their crimes. But Paula didn't have that option anymore. In fact, she didn't want that option anymore. She had something other criminals and those super villains didn't have: something to live for. Jade and Artemis should be Paula's top priority. She would never make that mistake again!

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><p>Only a few weeks had gone by since Paula entered her prison cell for the first time. This would go by much slower than she thought. Sadly, her family hadn't come to visit her, but she couldn't blame them. Finding out their mother had just been sent to prison must have brought them great shame and embarrassment, which she didn't want to add to. The food was dismal and tasteless, but it kept her full and nourished enough. She was still required to go outside for fresh air, but didn't see the point in it anymore. Luckily, other inmates left her well alone. She went under the assumption that they thought harassing a person in a wheelchair was already a low act.<p>

The only thing that brought Paula any amount of joy was the letters from her younger daughter, Artemis. Her handwriting as big, but neat, and cursive with exaggerated loops here and there. Paula's face would light up when the mail carrier arrived at her cell with the weekly letter. Artemis wrote that she was sad that Paula was gone, but knew that she would come back home soon, words that brought Paula to tears. She had to wipe her tears quickly so they wouldn't smudge the ink of the letter.

Artemis was a sweet girl, very passionate and independent too. Even though she was only nine, Artemis was perfectly capable of walking all the way home from elementary school without needing Jade to pick her up. She was smart too, book and street and knew not to trust strangers.

Jade was similar to her sister, but seemed slightly meaner, 'slightly' being an exaggeration. She was independent to the point where she seemed like she never wanted any help. She was determined and focused to achieve her goals no matter whom she hurt in the process. She didn't have a sense of humor like Artemis did and was no stranger to blackmail or manipulation, skills that Paula didn't realize Jade would take advantage of in her future career as an assassin. Paula had tried to help Jade become more open and relaxed, but Jade seemed resistant. Despite her coldness, she seemed to have an affinity for Alice in Wonderland, in particular, the Cheshire cat.

Paula's heart nearly broke when she read Artemis' next letter. Jade had packed up her things and left in the middle of the night, without a word!...and leaving Artemis behind. Not even a goodbye letter to her own mother! And Lawrence did nothing to stop her! What was she to do now? Jade was gone and Artemis was left alone under her husband's care.

Looking back now, she wasn't sure what she saw in him in the first place. Perhaps he was attractive in their younger years, but the more she thought about it, the less she realized she loved him. And she had a feeling that if the night she lost her legs went differently, Lawrence wouldn't tell her to escape and they would both be captured. He was a relentless and selfish person, a trained killer, traits Jade no doubt inherited. If she knew her husband, he would begin training Artemis to be just like them.

She wouldn't allow it! Artemis was just a child. She had a whole life ahead of her and shouldn't have to be forced into the life of a criminal like Paula had. Artemis deserved a chance at the life that Paula never got to live. As soon as she'd get back to Gotham, Artemis would be her top priority, bringing Jade home being her second. Whether Lawrence would comply or not wasn't part of her concern. If he was in, great and they could be a real family and Jade could come home. If he wasn't, then Paula was ready to remove him from Artemis' life, by means of divorce, of course, and not murder. She wouldn't risk losing Artemis again because of her own mistakes.

But all she could do now was sit and wait…

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><p><strong>Hope you liked it! Please review!<strong>

**~ZP**


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